First Drive: 2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera

If the sort of person who is thinking about buying a $300,000 two-seater wanted a Tesla, they’d already have. But Teslas, as great as they are, are like a six-foot burrito; sure, it’s more—more torque, more range, more smug-factor—but at the end of the day, it’s still a semi-premium mainstream car—a burrito. On the other hand, the new Aston Martin DBS Superleggera is like six feet of caviar. It’s more, but it’s also a couple hundred thousand dollars more. I make this weird analogy because my first utterance, after about 15 minutes behind the wheel, was not a conclusion, but a question: “Who needs an electric car?!” What prompted the question? Torque. On-demand, nearly instantaneous, never-ending, insane amounts of torque. Want to go from 40 mph to 140 mph right now? Done. The DBS Superleggera accelerates from a roll like almost nothing else in the business, electric or not. Of course, with a 5.2-liter twin-turbocharged V-12 engine rated at 715 hp and 663 lb-ft of torque, you’d expect some oomph. Those numbers, you’ll note, aren’t exactly beyond the pale for a modern performance car; hell, there’s a Dodge with more on tap. But unlike that Dodge, the Aston is only hauling around 3,732 pounds of dry weight (we figure something around 4,000 pounds on the road)—about 400 fewer pounds less than the Hellcat. That only translates to 3.4-second 0-62 mph times, per Aston, but the real treat is in-gear acceleration. Stacking on 100 mph from just about any starting point… [Read full story]